Korean media: Continuously winning large shipbuilding orders, are global shipping companies turning to China again?
On October 8, the Korean media "JoongAng Ilbo" published an article stating that in the context of a shrinking global new shipbuilding market, container ships are almost the only industry with continuously growing orders. However, recent signs of order flow to China have raised concerns within the South Korean shipbuilding industry.
According to the shipbuilding industry, Chinese shipyards have recently emphasized price competitiveness and delivery advantages, and have won large orders.
At the end of August, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation's Dalian Shipbuilding & Engineering Company secured an order for up to ten 22,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel ultra-large container ships from CMA CGM, the world's third-largest shipping company. The total value of the order is about $2.1 billion, and it is scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2028.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding recently secured a new contract worth approximately $920 million, which will involve building 22 vessels, including container ships. These contracts include 18 container ships, 2 gas carriers, and 2 bulk carriers.
Industry insiders believe that CMA CGM had considered both South Korea and China, but ultimately chose China because of its better pricing and delivery time. Analysts believe that if ordered from South Korea, the price would be more than 10% higher. In addition, the order backlog at South Korean shipyards has exceeded three years, indicating that shipowners may have chosen Chinese shipyards due to their relatively faster delivery speed.
This outcome contrasts sharply with the expectations at the beginning of the year. With the United States considering imposing port entry taxes on Chinese ships, it is expected that global shipowners will seek to diversify their order sources, especially South Korean shipyards.
However, since the publicly disclosed fee collection method is limited to "Chinese-made ships," its effectiveness is halved, as shipping companies can respond by deploying existing Chinese ships to routes outside the United States.
Despite this, the South Korean shipbuilding industry still maintains stable container ship orders. Hyundai Heavy Industries recently secured an order for two container ships worth 40.95 billion KRW; HJ Heavy Industries signed an order with an Oceania shipowner for four 8,850 TEU eco-friendly container ships worth 64 billion KRW.
A South Korean industry insider said, "Due to the strong supply capacity of Chinese shipyards, they are not lagging in large orders, especially as they continue to use price and delivery time as weapons to maintain their advantages."
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845379383060552/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.